Wiiiiide Load Ties Up R.22 Nonvalid Permits Add To Problems

Three tractor trailers transporting sections of a modular home snarled traffic on eastbound Route 22 for five hours yesterday after police discovered they had falsified hauling permits.

Too wide to travel over the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge, the trucks were forced to sit on the shoulder of the heavily traveled roadway at Easton's 4th Street exit from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The bridge is undergoing reconstruction, and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission will not allow any vehicle wider than 8-1/2 feet to use the span.

The three trucks, bound for Lambertville, N.J., are 14 feet wide.

The problem escalated when Easton police discovered that the PennDOT permits the haulers had were never confirmed with transportation officials, as required under state law.

As explained by Easton Police Capt. Carl Beers Sr., "wide load" hauling companies are given blank permits that are filled out with each truck's routes.

The routes are then logged and confirmed with PennDOT, making the permit valid, Beers said.

None of the three trucks, owned by Penn Lyon Homes of Selinsgrove, Snyder County, had valid permits, according to Beers, who said the drivers were carrying falsified permits. Authorities confiscated the permits.

Representatives from the company were forced to obtain valid permits from PennDOT yesterday before authorities allowed the trucks to exit onto 4th Street and turn around, eventually traveling westbound on Route 22 to Route 309.

"This whole thing is a mess," said truck operator Richard Hixson. "This is the first time anything like this has every happened to me. And hopefully the last time."

Hixson said the company, not the drivers, were responsible for the faulty permits.

"All we do is pick up the papers in the morning and head out," he said. "We just assume everything is in order."

Last night, it could not be determined whether citations were given to either the company or the drivers.